Hard Rock Cafe, Changi Airport T3 July 10, 2009

On the afternoon of my Penang trip, I had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. This is only my second meal at Hard Rock cafe. Due to their global presence, to me they have this overpriced air around them.

The first time I had a Hard Rock Cafe meal is at KL Bukit Bintang. But I have no memory of it except that it was just normal western food and that its expensive.

well, actually we have many choices for lunch that day, initially I thought that MrK wanted to have lunch at Popeye’s, our favourite Chicken joint. but he said that can be had anytime since they are not at the transit area.

So we wanted to eat at the new T3, so we walked there. on 3rd level near the movie theatre supposedly had Gelare’ Cafe something we never had before, but we walked up and down that alley all we see is like Lerky Thai, Prima Taste, Ajisen, all the normal usual stuff. wasted quite alot of time

so we headed downstairs n saw Hard Rock Cafe with all their guitars and merchandise (yes they sell merchandise too, changi airport specials.)and this big poster saying 3 course lunch at 12.50 nett. so, thats even cheaper than then the food like Burger King upstairs. So we asked about soup of the day, and dessert of the day cos we dun want any scoop of ice cream crap as dessert.

anyway their answers were satisfactory so we had lunch there.

BTW, Tuesday is their steak day (one of the most anticipated) and Thursday is baby ribs day.

when I was there it was breaded fish day.

Service was excellent. the right course come at the right time.

The soup of the day is Corn Cream, I love it the cream not too thick, and I am a Corn lover so yeah.

WE also ordered an appetiser, potato skin, it was alright but it was filling. so we had no space for gelare but
the food was wonderful

and especially dessert, yeah I am a sucker for sweet things. Its blackforest cake and its really nice!

the bill come up to about 50 dollars but I think its quite good considering the food quality. I love their fries too. and we changed the drink to a Celine Ice TEA. and it taste really good.

well pictures for ya.

final verdict: Recommended, now i gotta see if the one in town also has the same good deal, cos I heard there is credit card promos too.

I have more post of my short adventure in T3 coming up soon.

Penang with JetStar (1) July 7, 2009

yes, as mentioned before, I was selected to be the participants of the Jetstar’s JetLight Travel Challenge.
It ran from the 1-3rd July 2009, the mechanism is quite simple yet super exciting

first we get to go to Penang with Jetstar (air tix provided inclusive of taxes, and other charges) with just carry-on luggage, on their Inaugural trip to Penang, the flight left at 1505, but subsequently, they will have early morning flight, like 7 am or something, maybe to cater to the business travelers and day trippers.

then we get 2 N stay in Penang for free , I was selected to stay at Berjaya Georgetown, seems fated with Berjaya huh, just checked out of Berjaya Tioman and now I am at Berjaya Penang.

we are also given S$60 as pocket money (this is the amount saved by opting for carry on luggage only for 2 persons), initially it was stated to be RM 120, but since its in Sing Dollar! its now MORE!!!
we changed at a rate of 2.42

in return, I gotta blog about my experience, do a star jump at the most memorable place and take a pic of it, and also I had to maximise the budget! lastly, i gotta give u guys tonnes and tonnes of pictures!

and if they like it, the GRAND PRIZE is a pair of RETURN air tix to HONGKONG (Disneyland and Shopping here I come!!!!) and 2 N hotel stay in a Kowloon hotel.

well I really want to win of course, after all me and MrK travel together the furthest is to Bangkok, ok maybe Ayuthayya since it’s further north from Bangkok . it was the trip that make us caught the travel bug, a 14 day road trip round THAILAND.

Nowadays, we are not that adventurous with the car, probably furthest we went is Kijal in Trengganu. but Penang is definitely has been in our list. WE have never been there, this is our First Time/VIRGIN trip to Penang, so we definitely have alot to see and do but limited time, so stay tune to our version of the best places to see and the best recommendation for FOOD, yes i am sure followers of this humble blog will notice that Food is very big in our hearts and of course our Mouth!

anyway, I cant imagine if I have to drive to Penang, usually Coach trip there take about 12 hrs, and the jam along Penang bridge during peak hour can be a killer!

so flying, takes about 1 hr, and airport transfer is quite easy even though Penang does not has subway or MRT like KL or singapore.

our itenary has been posted before, those interested can just do a search or can look under categories

“Penang with Jetstar”

all related posts will be filed here too

MrK showing off our passports and jETsTAR folder

and me modelling it of course!

Ciao, we are leaving for penang now, from Terminal 1, the advantages of leaving from Terminal 1, you get to enjoy T1,2,3 at the same time! they are all just a skytrain or short walk away, but budget terminal is separate and can be reached by bus transfer only

we had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe in t3, but thats another story!

OT: why I am wearing my Pearl Necklace, well cos Penang is known as the Pearl of the Orient, so without Pearls, I am not complete in my Penang adventure right!

Look out for part 2!

Penang with Jetstar (2) July 7, 2009

now blog about the trip proper,

btw we are team 8, so maybe, i CAN split the entries into 8?

oh well, in the plane, very smooth ride, I was initially quite afraid, cos I remember long long time ago, someone told me that the skies from Singapore to KL is always cloudy and thus expect a bumpy plane ride, and I rode on Aeroflot (on the way to Moscow in 2000) from Singapore to KL and I had bad motion sickness. but on wednesday, there was no bumpy feeling on the plane at all!

mrK busy filling up forms (he is so nice really!, usually he doesnt even wanna look at the forms except to put his signatures)

me busy camwhoring in the plane, well actually, even though I have a camera with me, I seldom take picture of myself, so my camwhoring skills suck! just look at my DOUBLE chin , ahhhh the horror!!

but with the iPhone, there is so many photography applications so its like having ur own polaroid camera, with a lomo, fisheye whatever lenses there is thrown in but of course, the results is not as satisfactory.

but for the easy fixes and watermark adding, there is always Picasa!

so yeah, I dont photoshop, i only do very minor touches with Picasa.

SO, back to the flight, it was inaugural flight, so Penang Tourism WELCOMES us with a bang!

Pretty ladies giving out flowers and goodie bag while the guys tirelessly beating their drums!!
The Pilot should have announced it! everyone loves to be part of History, they should know that it is the inaugural flight and that Penang Tourism is welcoming us with a bevy of pretty ladies in national and traditional costumes! Oh well, I am sure by the end of it all everyone will realise, but I knew it, thanks to kelly and michelle so I was super EXCITED about receiving the pretty flowers (made of rattan and pretty laces!) and the goodie bag, an eco friendly blue bag with Penang tourism T shirt (I dont have to buy any Souvenir already!) and maps of Penang.

The flowers made a nice addition to my bag too!

Then another surprise, the organiser give us FREE AIRPORT TRANSFER to our hotel! so happy, save at least RM 25 (BY TAXI) to maybe rm 8 (by bus which will take forever cos it was rush hour already (5pm) by the time we cleared immigration and get onto bus)

Berjaya Georgetown is located at 1 midlands Park, Jalan Burma. Midlands Park is not exactly a park, its more of a shopping/hangout place. There are many entertainment outlets such as snooker/billiard, KTV, bar, Pub, Computer gaming and food place like KFC, Dimsum restaurant and 7-11. At night, the hotel’s bar is also very happening with live music! very very loud, but I stay in 27th floor outta 29 floor so it was peaceful and quiet and very good view.

so heres what the room look like, simple and most importantly, clean

BTW, there is this cafe just opposite the hotel, called Island RED cafe. AT night, like 7 onwards, it is FULL! all the parking lots are taken up, all the way until 1-2 am, then ppl started leaving, but really, always patronised. It served normal cafe western food, we didnt try it because we are always full by the time we return to hotel sooo the next time we are in Penang, we are definitely going to try it to see whats the hype all about.

there is no pic, its easy to find, just opp the hotel, right next to the Nokia centre and the Penang Adventist Hospital.

after we put down our stuff and freshen up abit, I practised my starJump!!

then took in the views from the room,

KOMTAR on the left, highest building in Penang, at 60 storeys high, the centre of government offices and heard alot of good food are nearby, more on KOMTAR on the other parts!

on the right, should be Jerai Mountain, the mountainous area near Penang National park (i think!)

Right below, our neighbours, school , condos, cafes etc.

then we go to Gurney Plaza, its so near the hotel so we walk there!
its easy to walk there, just follow the road, take a left at the first opportunity, walk straight ahead and you will see Gurney Plaza, supposedly the best mall in Penang.

There is a nice Playground just next to the mall, so we play for a while there, while practising more starjumps!! and try our hand at capturing the colours, we love this super well maintained and colourful playground!!!

We got hungry so we walked round the mall to find out whats available, then at the top floor (7th storey) is their cinema, 1st July was the opening day for Ice Age 3 : the dawn of Dinosaurs.

Then we saw a banner, wednesday night is movie night, shows only at RM6!

we got excited, but then we find out that its not applicable for ice age, its applicable for shows like transformers though.

well its still cheap plus I am sure we can still make it within budget since we have extra RM thanks to exchange rate difference.

so we bought tix to Ice age 3D!! RM 30 cos its 3D! still cheaper than Singapore (3D movies not applicable for any credit card discount!) and the cinema is really quite clean and well maintained!

now we get really hungry and head out to the famous Gurney Drive hawker centre.

Thats the huge hawker centre behind me, a very crowded place!

Their muar Chi is sold out! and Char Kway tiao Q was super duper long (well only this particular stall actually) so we eat asam laksa (very different from any kind of laksa in singapore), fried oyster, Rojak and Sotong Bakar (grilled sotong)

for drinks we had sugar cane and soya bean

total dinner cost RM 24

then we take a walk along gurney to enjoy the sea breeze

before catching our movie!

us in cool 3d glasses!!

ICE AGE is damn funny and highly recommended. 3D is really cool, sharp and super clear pictures!

CYA tomorrow for More adventures!!!

Penang with Jetstar (3) July 7, 2009

After last night usual Malay/Chinese fare,

we should eat Indian food today, we have it for brunch!
at the famous KAPITAN claypot briyani place. Ask any local about the best Indian food, their answer will be little India (DUH! in singapore too right, race course road for the best Indian FOOD) and then of course, we ask where in little India, and most will point you towards Kapitan

Here is their outlook, right in the corner from Little India,

probably because its easy to find, bright big red signboard (No one wants their guests to be stranded and hungry, as the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man!) and of course they serve good food! and Look at their extensive menu!

actually we wanted to try their prata/roti canai as the Malaysians called it (supposedly very good) but they run out already and will only start making again at 4pm

so we just “settled” with their Tandoori set and of course their claypot briyani!

total bill (RM18.7) inclusive of Ice TEH (tea with milk and brown sugar, taste very refreshing ) and the traditional Mango LASSI

The food here is absolutely SUPERB! I will return again for their prata and more claypot briyani, it was simply the best briyani I have eaten, and usually briyani gives me stomachache, ever since secondary school I avoid eating briyani, but this one is served with grilled chicken, so the taste was different and the rice in claypot is absolutely flavourful

the Tandoori set also good, the chicken is full of flavour, moist and tender! and their bread, taste as good as the bread I ate at Prego!, with the curry or the sauce given, they are just fantastic

Definitely 5 stars for food!

after the satisfying brunch, we walked round little india a bit more.
Little India in Penang is not as happening as the one in Singapore, just the blaring Bollywood music indicate you r indeed in Little india, the usual Jasmine and spices smell is not as obvious. In fact, the streets are quite empty, perhaps its still early in the morning.

but of course, there is the street hawkers peddling the usual mind boggling varieties of Vadai, and other Indian snacks

after all the food, we walked over to the Goddess of Mercy temple. this temple, not to be confused with the Kuan Yin temple or the Kek Lok Si, which also worship Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy), yes Penang has many Kuan Yin temples, but this one near Little India is particularly special, it was mainly dedicated to the Goddess of Sea “Ma Chor Poh” as well as Kuan Yin

more information, you can read here.

as its quite a special place, many people can be seen praying here!

MrK haggling for the best jossticks, and then praying!

More pictures of the temple

It was a particularly Hot DAY! all the josssticks burning just adds to the temperature, so we need to cool and just across the road, we find this, Da Jie Desserthouse

I had the See KoR Thng (similar to Chng Thng) , MrK the Cendol! (RM 5)

Of course we walked further, along the way is whole road full of money changers, everyone in Jln Masjid Kapitan Keling is a money changer, AWESOME!, there is at least 100+ money changers in that road alone, not counting the ones in inner alleys ( I spot several)

and One cant miss the building in which the road is named after, the Masjid Kapitan Keling (Masjid=Mosque in Malay).

this building is Persian inspired, and the huge clock tower is awe inspiring, and I am sure when it was prayer time, it will be filled with people, luckily we are there on Thursday and not Friday!

I shall end the post here, it is getting too long

well one last look at the mosque, from another angle

Penang with JETSTAR (4) July 7, 2009

WELCOME to part 4,

So further walk along Masjid Kapitan Keling, then slight twist and turn, we end up at the charming temple belonging to the Yap Kongsi,

Chinese make up the majority in Penang (60%), alot of the clans (kongsi) have their presence here. Thus for many Chinese, visiting Penang is like a “pilgrimage” aka History lesson to know more about their ancestors. We use GPS on my phone to find our way round so we can save on taxi (a lot of streets in the alleys in georgetown are one way, sometimes walking is easier n faster! ) we also took rapid penang bus everywhere!

well back to the pics, Here is the charming Yap Kongsi temple

we then reached the famous Khoo Kongsi, the Jewel heritage of Penang. we bought our entrance tix (RM 5 Each so its RM10)

and proceed to the museum, their museum is designed to be self explanatory with lots of dioramas and explanations. We were lucky to meet one of the curator and the designer of the museum himself, Mr Khoo of course! so we can learn alot more.

a little OT : I thought Khoo will be related to MrK (whose surname is Kok), because I have seen his relatives spell their surname as Koh. As you might know, many Chinese spell their surname differently because of dialect influences, but they are actually the same surname like Tan and Chen etc.

but I was wrong, of course, The Khoos r different,

though they did use Kok as a middle name in their 16th generation.

pictures of the huge place, and the interiors.

Khoo Kongsi when lighted up at night, this building is actually just the main temple/prayer hall. all the surroundings little shophouses also belong to the Khoo clan, and they are rented out to shops etc. There are total more than 50 houses in that area all belonging to the Khoo clan.

They were a site for filming the movie on Siam Kingdom, Anna and the King.

I cook,

they are enjoying the fruits of my LABOUR

they have many foreign influences too in their buildings, such as this guard, He wore a turban, just like Gurkhas?

WE cannot roll the granite ball inside the lion, I didnt know it can be rolled in the first place. I thought its usually fixed?

after visiting kHOO kongsi, we walked to KOMTAR, all rapid Penang bus stop/transit here, so we took a bus to Air Itam where Kek Lok Si and Penang Hill is located

since its located on a hill, it might be too steep for some to climb, so they build a road, so the place is now accessible to everyone young and old

Me taking in the hillside view

Kek lok si pictures

Pic of the famous pagoda and the surroundings, plus more of the God/Goddess statues

MrK praying,

A lot of people has experienced miracles from this temple, one of the most visited place in Penang. and it is also known as the temple of supreme bliss.

Fann Wong in Ah long Pte Ltd was forced (in one scene of the movie) to pray here by her mother to find a spouse. Well one of the belief is that the temple can help you to find your spouse.

MrK, bought a “roof” of the temple, inscribed it with his name as well as pineapple candle also inscribed with his name to get some of the Supreme Bliss.

Then we took a walk down, via the staircase this time and visited the Tortoise pond

OH MY!, never seen so many tortoise in my life before, there is at least thousands of them, we bought Kang Kong (RM 1) to feed them

The GUY on the right most pic, is Particularly huge, and push others by force in order to get to FOOd, a clear example of survival of the fittest?

after this, we walked to the train station for the funicular train ride up the Penang Hill, along the way spotted a bus, and hop on it, bus 204 straight to the station!

I shall end the post here,

before that, one more look at Khoo Kongsi

and of me, near the many many statues, lining the whole place and the pagodas

Penang with Jetstar (5) July 7, 2009

We proceed to go to Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill)

we quickly bought tix to take the funicular train up the hill (RM8 for both of us)

we camwhore inside it while we still can

The GPS device that I was using to guide me all over Penang. If you want to know about my maps and some of my POI (point of interests) that i have collected over my road trips in Malaysia or my current Penang trip, you can visit malfreemaps.com (for the map) or mail me if you are interested in a certain place and wants a coordinate.

The steep train track, on the way up, afraid that the train will go backwards cos of our weight and on the way down, thinking that the cables might snap after many many years of service and we will go down on a roller coaster ride

then we had to transit at the middle station to change onto another train.

Exact Location of the middle station

the middle station is about 300m high, and the view is amazing,

we are already liking this place! and prepare lots of Star Jump shots!

then we took another train to go to the top of the hill at 881 m, what a height, and along the way always afraid whether the train will be able to make it up the hill.

well once we are up there, we are rewarded with a generous view,

MrK cant pass up this good deal, see his incredulous look when I said I wanted to borrow!

Well we love Penang hill! The weather is cool. There are actually hotels, restaurant, hawker centre, temples ( both Chinese n hindhu temple) also a Mosque

More pictures!

The historic cannon that protect penang! now MrK is manning it with water bottles!

One of the temples at the top of the hill

We wanted to go on the canopy walk but it was closed!

But we rewarded ourselves with chocolate ice cream from nature!

And meet giant spiders! i TELL u, this spider is as big as the palm. and then See more great flora around

My attempt at macro shoot failed! My camera too lousy! Need to get new one soon, maybe this time a Lumix also! My Taiwan trip pictures some of it were from a lumix I’ll show side by side comparison next time

Then it was sunset n time to go back down! I don’t know why but the down bound train will always be packed! They made me wait for more than half hour inside a packed train and the train before was empty!

Their train schedule is quarter and three quarter of every hour. So English rite? Use quarter thingy

Oh well it was going to be dark but still have to take pictures with the train station rite!

They also dug tunnels to make way for the train, the tunnel is just right for the size of the train, next time if they wanna change this train for some reason (one of the most compelling is that the current one too slow n too crowded already even during weekdays), they need to make new tunnels or maybe next time they will do cable car.

we are at the BOTTOM, wanted to take more more pictures of this beautiful, serene and cosy place

A few snaps n MrK said 204 is here! So we forgot about picture taking n ran for the bus!

Well it was their interchange stop, so actually we could have taken a few more pic cos the bus will wait

Not satisfied with the limited camera time in the station. So we took more inside the bus. This time round seated sideways so could really feel the RAPID part of the bus!

I tell u taking rapid Penang is almost as good as taking a taxi. There’s only a few stops n they drive as fast if not faster than taxi. Of course the downside is that u don’t always get a seat. But it’s cheap n efficient. Though the frequency of the bus could be further improved. Waited quite long for a bus usually about 15 or more mins

one last shot, an attempt at an “Arty” shot

this one is of one of the many staircases in the hill.

Ciao, see ya in Part (6)

Penang with Jetstar (6) July 7, 2009

WE stopped at Air Hitam market for some DURIANS!

Its durian season now and Penang is very famous for their durians. Their most famous (and thus tastiest) durian plantation is located at Balik Pulau, and their plantations offer those all u can eat durian eating. But we have no time for those and besides how much durian can we eat after eating all the yummy Penang food.

The durians sold in Penang are usually from Balik Pulau, but the ones in Air Hitam is definitely from Balik Pulau, the Penang ppl said so, the durian sellers also display signs that said so, and of course Balik Pulau is just a few km away from Air Hitam.

only 1 shot of durians cos hands were dirty afterwards

we then continue on to search for our dinner this time round, near KOMTAR, where many famous food outlets are located.

First, since Penang is located close to Thailand, we need to eat at some Thai joint.

this one is particularly full of people despite just serving simple dishes like fried rice and tom yam

we ordered their Pattaya fried rice (rice wrapped in omelette).

She cooked with passion, really very loud and with large movement of the pan and you can see rice being tossed about metres away

Our food is finally here, MrK is starving so he said no need pics just eat

Next we have Tang Yuen for dessert, this tang yuen stall is located right opposite Traders Hotel (next to Komtar) really very nice “soup”

its made of young ginger (very fragrant and warm taste) not old one cos the warmth of young ginger is a lot more compared to the old one. and this one is mixed in with Gula Melaka.

The best Tang Yuen I have eaten in life easily

Next to it sell some kueh, but we need to save stomach for other things

So we walked further, and checked out Sunway Hotel, some of our competitors are staying here and of course we need to stake them out rite? haha JK!

anyway there is a mini hawker centre just below the hotel, so we eat some char kway tiao (prev day at Gurney the queue was horrendous) and some satay.

not bad the food.

we are full now and thus we head towards the bus stop, but before that, the GPS told us that Sun Yat Sen Memorial is nearby

so we visited it

I am also a PATRIOT. (statue of the 3 patriots, Dr Sun Yat Sen is the one in the middle)

then we took the bus home 101, right to our doorstep, oh well need to walk a bit actually

our early morning flight worries us, cos we are afraid of the rush hour traffic. BUT let me tell u, when they say there is traffic, it just means there is lots of cars on the road, but u can still move along quite comfortably, unlike Singapore, when u said traffic jam, u r moving at snail speed or not moving at all.

so the concept of traffic is different.

well we reached the airport on time of course

and us having breakfast at the hotel,

the plane that brings us here, will now bring us back

and me with the memorable JETSTAR plane

we took a group pic, but my camera died, I will “steal” one of the pic from the other blogs

well onto Part 7, whats next?? of course our star jump!!

Penang with Jetstar (7) – The aftermath July 7, 2009

Our most memorable place, hard to choose, each one is special

but we had a romantic walk in Penang Hill and spend quite a long time there, we enjoyed the weather and thus

we crown it our most memorable place

Thank you Jetstar,

we love Penang and of course we love Jetstar

now onto our budget

we calculated our spendings and wrote it down on Hotel paper

so here is the breakdown

Ice age 3D movie = Rm 30
Dinner at Gurney drive = Rm 24
Brunch at Kapitan, Little India = RM 18.70
Khoo Kongsi entrance fee = RM 10
Penang Hill Funicular train = Rm 8
Dinner at Komtar area = RM 20.5
Bus rides =Rm 11
Durian feast =RM 20
Water from 7-11 = Rm 2.50

total = RM 144.7

of course our donations to some temples are not included.

but we made it within the budget!!! with 50 cents left!!!

we changed at 2.42 so 60×2.42 = 145.2

and do so much things!!

Onto the itenary,

all the things we stated in the itenary post,

all of it was fulfilled except for Batu Ferringhi beach. We decided to skip the beach because a beach will be a beach and there will be nothing so special about it. Of course the huge nightmarket in Batu Ferringhi is very famous, but many penang people we met said that place is mainly catered for tourists. in fact a similar market, albeit at smaller scale is quite nearby our hotel is called Thailand market by locals, which from the name can be implied that it sells thailand goods. However, these market are nowhere near the quality of JJ market or more commonly known as Chatuchak market.

but in return, we visited Khoo Kongsi, and the Goddess of Mercy temple and walked round Little India.

I feel its better to know a little more about Chinese heritage in Penang than go shopping, plus there will be nothing we wanna buy cos we are travelling light!

anyway I am missing Penang already

and PS: there is no part 8, even though I said I was going to do 8 parts.
I feel its gonna be too long, so yeah dont look out for 8 parts, Only 7

and its ending here

Hope you all enjoy it, any qns pls feel free to ask

now I am back to writing my thesis

and start researching on Hongkong!!

well one last pic, this one is of uS in Kek Lok Si, the grandest temple in all of malaysia, or maybe south east asia?

jetSTar (but no) jump!

ok thanks for reading it will definitely end here. dont wait for part 8

Taiwan Trip day 2 Pt 1 July 5, 2009

Pic from the night before,

we were excited about our Taiwan trip, so we took pics with the hotel, usually we do not do this!

thats right, our home in Taipei, Taipei Fullerton Hotel.
While the name Fullerton immediately reminded me of the very posh Fullerton hotel that is just right next to the Supreme Court, beautifully situated along the banks of Singapore River, the one in Taiwan is not as grand, and I dont think they are by the same management.

Nevertheless the hotel is really nice, free internet broadband in the room.
The room had a view of the TAIPEI 101, the tallest building in the world right now (yeah WTC is down thats Why). More about Taipei 101 next time.

and the room decor is simple yet comfortable and sophisticated. The best thing is for my sister, the WC had a bidet ( water for cleaning, directly from the WC, eliminating the need for copious amount of tissue paper), cos my home too, all toilets are equipped with bidet.

and they have half windows and then the study table cum cabinet to put all sorts of things from the fridge, stationery etc etc.

oh well no pic of the room either, I dunno why.
Location wise, its in Nanjing West ROAD, very near to Taipei 101, within walking distance to RAO He night market, I will tell you more about RaoHe in another post.

ok thats it about the hotel in Taipei.
we LEFT most of our luggage in this hotel, cos we are going to go outta town for a few days. and I forgot to bring alot of stuff cos I was too tired n forgot to pack many things.  

today we went for a city tour around taipei after breakfast.

the hotels in taiwan are generally super small just like Japan hotels. the breakfast restaurant was so cramped, I can feel the heat from the food warmers, many times I am just so scared someone will pour their entire breakfast on me when they accidentally slip

the breakfast was decent though.

In taiwan, especially in Southern taiwan, ppl use Hokkien as their everyday languange, and most of them do not understand english.

Taiwanese are very hardworking ppl, just like most chinese although, as i have learned in Sociology, hardworkingness has nothing to do with race or gender. it is just their society and in order not to be labelled as a deviant, we will just follow.

Taiwan has many indegenous tribes too, their most famous singer A*mei, comes from one of these tribes, usually live in the mountainous regions in the middle of Taiwan itself.

our tour guide, is a neighbour of mine in Jakarta, by neighbour I dont mean he live in Jakarta and so do I, but really we live in the same neighbourhood. I can walk to his place kind of thing  but I dunno him of course, cos he has migrated long time ago to taiwan, he is quite knowledgable and friendly

thats our guide with my family, well my guide did not take a pic with my family he just happened to be in the pic

our first stop in the city tour, Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall.

chiang Kai shek marry the youngest soong sister, Soong may ling. credited as the father of taiwan, but because of politics his popularity is waning and even accused as the thief of china due to the amt of stuff he took that are now stored in the national museum, as usual due to lack of time we did not enter the place

thats the man himself, hard at work

thats us outside, the guy on the left on my Dad is the tour guide, speak Indon quite well.

so after chiang kai shek memorial, we went to the martyr’s shrine, a place containing thousands of names from those who died in the war to mainly watched the changing of guards, quite impressive but i was lazy.

Martyr’s Shrine, very expansive place and one of the view still guarded by the elite guards and many tourists flock here to watch the changing of guards ceremony and so did we.

My pretty Sister outside the National Museum.

All these places are actually quite near each other, the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, Martyr’s Shrine, National Museum and even the Presidential Palace. all had expansive ground, with beautifully manicured gardens.
while the rest of Taipei is kinda shabby,crowded and just look grey to me. Even Singapore look so bright. but it seems like most of the buildings are not maintained properly, esp the exterior. Maybe because its winter, everything just gets dark faster and add to the gloomy mood.

then we went to have lunch, yeah I do not take a pic of whatever I eat because, my family is around, it feels quite weird to be taking such pics. secondly, other ppl are around cos we are in a tour group. Lastly cos I thought nobody cares about the food as part of the memory and do not want to look Kampung/SuaKu.

However I was wrong. Some people even took videos of their family eating! and all the courses.

oh well nothing special about the food, regular chinese food, with lots of chicken (its cheap), Pork (also cheap), egg (very cheap i heard) and veg. I get bored of it and sometimes just go to 7-11 and buy snack.

Hi-Chew sweets are very cheap (8-12 NT) my sister bought alot as souvenirs, cos it comes in many different flavors instead of the usual apple flavor found in Jakarta. They have strawberry, lychee, honey melon etc etc.

continue on to Part 2,

after lunch is our journey to Hua Lien by their high speed train.

The Mussel Guys, VivoCity July 3, 2009

the reasons why I love VivoCity

1> its so near school

2>it has all my favourite stores like Tangs for Mac, other skincare stuff, tangs studio, fashion stores: Zara, Mango, F21 (i tried it on the store n search for it online ), Topshop, La senza and for accessories and shoes like Charles and Keith, Aldo, pedder red, etc etc

3> it has good cinema, GV and lastly it has great view and Sentosa express!

BUT,

Its not a food destination, at least for me. While it has the usual stuff of fast food to fine dining, nothing really makes me wanna go vivo to eat that. Everytime I visit Vivo, always finding it hard to eat n would usually eat elsewhere first before going over.

last Friday, we had made reservations to eat at the Rasa Sentosa Resort, but we went out quite late so decided against going to Sentosa. So we decided to just eat at vivo n then catch Transformers (love love Megan Fox!)

n as usual we had a hard time deciding.

we do not want to go to fine dining eg crystal jade or tung lok etc. btw, come to think of it, I am quite lucky to have tried most of the food outlet in vivo, from the high end Crystal Jade, Tung Lok, Imperial Treasures, Brotzeit, Modestos to the usual Carl’s Junior, Long John Silvers, Kim Gary HK restaurant, Superdog, Kolo mee, Dian Xiao ER (one time we go dian xiao er crazy and eat here weekly), White Dog cafe, Terra cafe, Godiva, Starbucks and Coffee Bea, Garuda Padang cuisine

even the Kono Pizza at GV itself, and the dessert stall.

yeah vivo is our hangout indeed!

well I will slowly write the reviews of these places, but most of them i visited like a year plus plus ago, the fact that I did not revisit them means they are not value for money.

when I eat I always look out for of couse taste and second most important factor has to be price.
If its an expensive place, I always make sure to do some research online first to see whats the best thing to eat.

well after arguing for so long, we decided to eat at Dian Xiao Er, its been months since we have been there, partially cos its expensive and also bcos we wanted to try other foods

so we decided to eat at mussel guys

we ordered their set meals, comes with soup and scoop of ice cream as dessert.

MrK ordered their Wild mushroom spaghetti in cream sauce set with their soup of the day which is cream of mushroom. Yeah I think he OD on cream cos we also ordered their creamy mussels

I ordered the pan fried salmon with honey and aromatic rice.

then there is some credit card promo 1-for-1 mussels. so we ordered their 350gr Belgian mussels and their creamy mussels.

well cos they called themselves mussel guys, their mussels is indeed very good. the creamy mussel sauce was really good, but the belgian ones were ok too, but I would definitely reorder their creamy one, cos the belgian one is more expensive n its not even justifiable. well we just love Cream.

the mussels were done just right and served in a heavy steel big bowls, maybe so that u dunno whats their real weight is, maybe is less than 350gr? I dunno

but their set meals were overpriced and not nice. if i revisit, i AM just going to order their mussels. save my calories n get good deals.

I didnt get their soup of the day, I “top-up” to their french onion soup which was quite salty though i feel its better than their cream of mushroom that MrK had.

the aromatic rice was just like normal chicken rice with less garlic and the salmon was not bad but at 15.90++ it was overpriced i feel.

MrK spaghetti taste a little bland to me.

only their mussels is good enough for a re-visit.

I shall end the post here.

well I know i am updating my blog like crazy nowadays. thats because i need to write my thesis but I am super lazy!! so I wrote my blog instead and write as much as i can before my IA started and I will be too tired to write. and I will just schedule them to publish itself like maybe 2x a week?

oh well pictures then, shall explain themselves rite,

well i know the pictures are blur but these are the mussels. I didnt take a pic of the main courses cos they were just normal, nothing unusual.

some might hate the QuadCam lomo style photos, but i love it. I mean I dont have a big DSLR, and even if I have, i am not going to take up food photography cos I cant imagine myself carrying so many things. Already I am carrying like at least 5-6 gadgets in my handbag everytime I go out, so yeah its heavy and my BFF is not a bag carrier!

so sorry if pics are blur, cos they were taken using the limited 2.0 mp iPhone camera.